Joanie Laurer — who went from being a top professional wrestler as
"Chyna" to becoming a porn star — is dead at the age of 45! Her body was found on April 20 by police at her apartment in Redondo Beach, Calif., after a concerned friend asked them to check on the residence. It was a sad end to a troubled life that had seen the former WWF star of the '90s turn into a porn star having sex while dressed as the She-Hulk in adult parody film. She also died shunned by the wrestling world, despite telling
The National ENQUIRER: "Wrestling saved my life!"
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To millions of World Wrestling Federation fans, the muscular 5-foot-10, 196-pound athlete was the "Ninth Wonder of the World." But the real wonder is that she managed to survive! Chyna revealed to The ENQUIRER that she became a grappler to escape from abusive parents who made her life a living hell.
"My life sucked," confessed Chyna, who grew up taunted by classmates for her awkward size. "I just never fit in." Only tremendous dedication in the gym — where she could bench press a phenomenal 300 pounds — and her devotion to wrestling kept her going.
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The brainy brawler — who told The ENQUIRER that she was a "girlie-girl" at heart — played cello and piano, and had won a U.N. scholarship. As a teenager in Rochester, N.Y., though, few could see past her imposing physique. "I was big and muscular," Chyna said.
"Because of it, I was called every cruel name you can think of," she added. "They called me a lesbian, a misfit, even a man. But being taunted was the least of my problems. I came from a very dysfunctional family. I saw my father physically and emotionally abuse my mother!"
Chyna's father once ran around the family apartment while chasing her mother with a butcher's knife, according to her sister Kathy Hamilton: "He stabbed her in the leg, scarring her thigh. It was very scary."
"My parents divorced when I was young," added Chyna. "I lived with my mother who went through three revolving door marriages. It seemed like there was a new guy every year. My dad made a few drunken attempts to see us, but my mother always chased him away. My mother was very cruel and tortured me as a kid. If I didn't do something she wanted or she was mad at me, she cut the amount of food I ate!"
That wasn't the only time Chyna was the victim of her mother's temper. The abuse started when the wrestling star was just a youngster, according to her sister Kathy. "My sister loved Winnie the Pooh when she was a kid and had quite a collection of Pooh dolls," she said. "My mother got mad at her for some reason when she was about 10 and threw out all her Pooh things. They meant the world to her — she was devastated!"
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Chyna found a home in the wrestling world, but the abuse wasn't over. "The men were cruel," recalled Chyna. "I got called 'dyke' millions of times. But slowly, inch by inch, I proved myself. Now some of my harshest critics are my biggest supporters." Jim Ross, a WWF ring announcer with 25 years experience broadcasting wrestling matches, added at the time: "Chyna's the best female athlete I have ever seen in this business. She has a will to succeed that is overwhelming. Her best is yet to come."
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Sadly, Chyna's career was soon derailed just as she began to cultivate mainstream success. The WWF allowed Joanie to use the "Chyna" name when she posed nude for a Playboy cover pictorial in November 2004. But then she shocked fans by releasing a sex tape that she had made with fellow wrestler and longtime boyfriend Sean Waltman — aka "X-Pac."
"They go through different sexual positions on her big bed," said a source who got
an early look at Chyna's video in 2004. "Occasionally, she's decked out in a tight black vinyl outfit with a flowing cape . There's even a segment where she puts on some leather gear and twirls swords!"
Chyna and Sean's romance had always been already been full of extreme twists. They became engaged in 2002, but Joanie got a restraining order against Sean the following summer after she accused him of beating her up. They were back together by the fall of 2003 — but soon split up after another fight in a California hotel. The ENQUIRER revealed how the couple felt when the amateur sex tape was released.
"They both laughed that the sex tape could only help their careers at this point, just like a sex tape helped Paris Hilton," reported the source. Chyna — who, only years before, had been wholesome enough to appear on the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (pictured) — said: "Sean and I have been through a lot worse together. At least we had a lot of fun while making the tape!'"
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The couple even attempted another reconciliation, with The ENQUIRER getting the scoop when Chyna was hauled off in handcuffs for hitting Sean in 2005. In an exclusive interview, the brawny beauty said her only regret was that she didn't beat Sean to a pulp!
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"He pushed me to it," she said. "He disrespected me. I wish I could have hit him harder. I don't regret it at all." Sean told The ENQUIRER that he called 911 because Joanie went berserk in front of his two kids and wouldn't stop smacking him. "She slapped me as hard as she could across the right side of my head, followed by another one across the left side...She even screamed at my kids that their mother was a 'trailer park ho!'"
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Chyna — who began working in porn as Joanie Laurer, since the WWE owned her name — soon began to slur her words in troubling personal appearances. Chyna ended up on "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" at the beginning of 2008. On December 27 of that same year, she was rushed to a hospital after being found with multiple cuts on her arms. Meanwhile, her porn career allowed her to indulge her bisexuality in public, as she joined fellow star Mary Carey in public displays of affection.
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The National ENQUIRER once caught the pair sporting matching T-shirts with the words "Little Miss Trouble" splashed across their voluptuous chests at the Hollywood hotspot Shag. Mary reportedly got very sexy with Chyna on the dance floor, and then lifted the wrestling icon's skirt to give shocked onlookers a peek. The ladies later climbed into a car outside — where sources said they were joined by an unknown male that Chyna straddled in the back seat!
The aspiring starlet also began trying to look more feminine for the porn industry. The ENQUIRER turned to top cosmetic surgeon Dr. Stephen Grifka, who said that Chyna had gone from body slams to facelifts. Dr. Grifka, who hadn't treated Chyna, said that the porn actress had enhanced her lips surgically, and that Chyna's fuller face was the result of a so-called "space lift." The term refers to filling in facial hollows with a filler — normally made of the patient's own extracted body fat.
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Sadly, Chyna died as an outcast in wrestling. She had made adult films as recently as 2013, performing explicit sex scenes as the character She-Hulk in porn film parodies. Her fellow disgraced wrestler
Hulk Hogan praised her as a "beautiful soul," but wrestling insiders said Chyna's past will always keep her out of the WWE Hall of Fame.
"They can't let Chyna be associated with the WWE," an adult industry veteran told The ENQUIRER. "Her sex scenes are all over the internet. Some of them even look like superhero movies. They can't let parents catch their kids watching porn because they Googled a member of the WWE Hall of Fame!"